


Skin

by amibleeding_fromthestorm



Category: Green Day
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 06:00:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10380030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amibleeding_fromthestorm/pseuds/amibleeding_fromthestorm
Summary: Kinsley works as a guitar tech for Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong and has had a crush on him for the longest time, she just hasn't had the guts to tell him. When Kinsley's world suddenly gets flipped upside down and she is facing the possibility of death, will that be enough to make her step up and let Billie Joe how she really feels?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one shot that became longer than I expected but I didn't feel like I could drag it out enough to make a decent story. Hope you enjoy!

The weather was absolutely perfect today in Charlotte, North Carolina. The temperature was just right and there was a slight breeze blowing to offset the heat a little bit. It was the perfect day to be outside doing something fun and thanks to the off day we had today, that’s exactly what I was doing. It was hard to get a perfect off day like this, so I wasn’t going to let it slip away. The huge tree above me cast just enough shade to keep the sun out my eyes and the sound of skateboards racing across the concrete of the skate park I was at was almost comforting enough to put me to sleep.

“Thanks for tagging along with me today. I know there were a million other things you could have done.” I said to my best friend laying in the grass right next to me, the one and only front man for Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong.

He turned to look at me, his beautiful eyes hidden by his sunglasses, but his smile said it all. “Thanks for asking me. Today has been pretty much perfect. I had no idea you could skate that good.”

“Oh whatever. I’m not that great. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a skate park. I’m beyond a little bit rusty.”

“Well, on the brightside, you’re only leaving with one shredded up arm so that’s a plus.” He chuckled.

“Today has been so beautiful. Why can’t every day be this perfect?”

“Because then we would forget the beauty of the rain and take the sun for granted.”

I glanced over at the perfect man beside me, trying not to make it too obvious. I had been his guitar tech for about three years now and we had become really good friends from the beginning. I hadn’t known much about the members of Green Day themselves before beginning my job with them, but I had never met someone like Billie Joe before, He was the perfect mix of everything and the energy that he put into each performance every night was amazing. He was everything I had ever wanted in a man, but I would never ever, have the courage to tell him so. He could have any girl on the planet and I knew there was no way I stood a chance in hell at being one of those girls.

“Okay, so random question.” He said, turning to look at me.

“Oh shit. What is it?”

“Do you ever like, have these weird things you want to do that other people would probably think you were crazy for?”

I raised my eyebrows over my Ray Ban Aviators, not really sure how to answer his question. “What do you mean?”

He propped himself up on his elbows as he explained. “Like, I’ve always wanted to just get this big empty room and throw a huge sound system in it and just dance with the love of my life all night long, just the two of us.”

“Why is that weird? That actually sounds fun. Wait a second, are you trying to say you have the love of your life that I don’t know about yet?” I asked, turning my body quickly so that I was facing him, very little out of excitement and a lot out of nervousness that maybe he had found that girl.

“What? No. You would know if I did. I tell you almost everything.” He sighed and laid back down in the grass. “I seem to repel girls here lately, well, except for the ones that are young enough to be my daughters.”

Oh my gosh if he only knew the feelings I had for him! But that didn’t mean he would feel the same way about me though. 

“Whatever. That’s because those girls you think you repel are stupid. Any girl that talks to you and can’t see what an amazing person you are, has some serious issues. Trust me, you will make some girl very lucky one day and I will be around to kick any girl’s ass that even thinks about breaking your heart. Me, on the other hand, hell I repel even the guys that are my age and older. I’m pretty positive that it’s written in the stars somewhere that I’m destined to be alone forever.”

“Don’t say that, Kinsley. You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re a pretty kick ass girl and some day, some guy will have a priceless catch with you. And just in case they try to pull something, I have a new pistol I’ve been wanting to try out and haven’t yet.”

I smiled. “This is why you’re my best friend and I love you. So anyway, now that I know what you’re talking about, I guess I don’t really have a weird thing that I want to do, but I have a thing for black sparkly prom dress type dresses. The only thing is, I have no reason to buy one nor anywhere to wear it to if I did. Pretty weird.”

“That’s not weird. I bet you would look beautiful all decked out in a prom dress. I only ever see you in skinny jeans or cargo shorts. Did you ever go to prom in school?” He asked, an interested smile playing at his face.

“Nope. You had to have a date and I was never asked. My mom could have never afforded a dress though, so I was always kind of glad I never got asked because I know it would have killed her to tell me no. I wanted to go so bad though.”

“That breaks my heart, Kinsley.”

I laughed. “Don’t let it. It’s in the past and my mom and me are both way better off now financially so it’s all good.”

“So, do you have one dream dress that you’ve found or just any black sparkly prom dress?”

“I actually do have one that I can’t get out of my head. Its way above prom dress range though but it’s beautiful.”

I showed him the picture of my dream dress that I one day hoped to get the opportunity to spend thousands of dollars on and wear for whatever occasion. We wrapped up the conversation and headed back to the arena where tomorrow night’s show was going to be, because it was getting time for the guys to do their sound check so it wouldn’t have to be done tomorrow. I couldn’t quit thinking about the conversation we had had and I wanted so bad to just tell him how I felt but I was more scared that it would end the amazing friendship and relationship that we shared. Billie in my life somehow was much better than him not being in my life at all or it turning awkward between us.

It was back to work as the sound check started and I did my work making sure Billie’s guitars were tuned right for the songs and played around with the amp settings. I climbed up onto the drum platform to fix some wires and couldn’t help but watch as he messed around with Mike and Tre just a little bit below me on the stage. The three of them had so much fun together and I was beyond blessed to get to live on the road with these guys all of the time.

I finished my work with the wires and stood up, suddenly becoming very dizzy. I fought to keep my balance to keep from knocking over part of Tre’s drums and thankfully I was successful, but the weird feeling didn’t go away. I glanced over at the guys, Billie’s eyes on me, and he was saying something that I couldn’t hear. I felt myself start to fall and my world went black…

“She’s coming to.” I heard Billie say.

I forced my eyes open and found myself laying on the floor of the stage on my side, my head resting on Billie’s thigh. I felt completely exhausted and drained and had no idea what had just happened to me. There was something cold on the back of my shoulder and Billie’s hand was holding something firmly against the back of my head which was on fire and throbbing. I hissed in pain as it all hit me and I felt like I had been thrown from the top of a mountain.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. You passed out and fell. You hit the edge of the bass drum and almost fell off of the platform. Your shoulder hit hard on the corner but we got to you before you fell off. What happened, Kenny? Were you feeling sick?”

Billie had a very freaked out and concerned look on his face, a look I wasn’t used to seeing on him. I would have felt special that he seemed so concerned about simple me, but my head was pounding too hard for me to hardly even think right now. I had no idea what happened to make me feel the way I had and then pass out.

“Fuck.” I winced again as I tried to move, but they were doing a good job and holding me still. “Can I sit up please?”

“Yeah, just be easy. The ambulance should be getting here.”

“They’re here now.” Mike called from the side of the stage as he motioned a team of paramedics up onto the stage.

I answered their questions and did as they asked of me as I was strapped onto the stretcher and they got ready to take me to the hospital. I had never been in this situation before and I couldn’t lie about the fact that I was scared. My mom was a thousand miles away from me and I really didn’t want to go through god knows what at the hospital by myself. I hated showing the softer, more vulnerable side of me like this, but right now I didn’t care. I looked over at Billie who was watching everything going on, but trying to stay out of the way at the same time.

“Is it possible for you to go with me?” I asked him. “I really don’t want to go by myself.”

“Of course. You didn’t think I was going to let you go by yourself, I hope. I’m not going to leave you, baby.”

An almost frightened look flashed across his face as if he had said something he shouldn’t have and I tried not to let on to the fact that I heard him call me baby. I felt a huge sense of relief knowing that he was going to go with me though, and I was already wanting all of this to be over so I could get back to the bus and sleep this off.

The whirlwind started upon arrival to the emergency room in hopes of getting to the bottom of what had caused me to pass out. I answered questions, had blood work drawn, a cat scan of my head, x-ray of my shoulder, the back of my head stapled closed, and finally after all of that was finished I was allowed to get some rest. My t-shirt was covered in blood from my head bleeding and I noticed that Billie had a good bit of blood on him too which I felt bad about.

“Next time you decide to hit a clothing store, let me know and I’ll give you my credit card so I can replace those clothes that I ruined.” I mumbled groggily, thanks to being drugged a little bit.

He chuckled and walked over to the side of the bed, lightly brushing some hair out of my face. “I promise you these clothes are the least of my worries right now. How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted and sore, but otherwise like nothing ever happened. I can still hear the ringing in my head from that god awful staple gun though.”

“Yeah, that was pretty gruesome sounding. If it makes you feel any better, a huge random bald spot in the back of your head kind of suits you though.” He smirked.

I smiled. “Fuck you.”

“Ms. Kinsley Green?”

“Yes?” I looked up to see a doctor walking into the room, one that I hadn’t seen yet today.

“My name is Dr. Crothers. I was called in by the emergency room doctor to have a look at all of your test results. Do you mind if I speak to you alone for a minute?”

Billie Joe left the side of my bed to walk out of the room, but I grabbed his hand to stop him.

“This is guy is closer than most of my blood relatives so whatever you have to say, he can hear too.”

Billie squeezed my hand tightly as if to say thank you and then returned by my side while we waited to hear whatever the doctor had to say.

“Sure. I’ve been looking at your test results and your lab work and the information you gave the doctors and nurses about how you’ve been feeling. Ms. Green, there are a few more tests that would need to be run to be absolutely sure, but I’m afraid it looks like you may have leukemia which would explain you saying you’ve been feeling exhausted and haven’t had much of an appetite and the unexplained weight loss. Your blood work is very indicative as well. I understand you’re traveling with a band right now, but I would advise you to get home and see your local doctor and get to the bottom of this as quickly as you can. The quicker treatment can begin, the better the outcome.”

I had no words to say to what he had told me, and I’m not sure anything would come out of my mouth even if I tried to answer him or ask a question. He eventually walked out leaving both Billie and myself with shocked faces. I had not seen that coming in a million years nor had it ever crossed my mind that my tiredness and lack of wanting to eat should have tipped me off that something wasn’t right. Traveling constantly and setting up and tearing down a huge stage set every other night had the tendency to wear on you some, but I never thought twice otherwise.

“Well, shit.” I said after we had been alone for a few minutes. “I’m sorry I drug you along to hear that kind of news.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad I was here with you and you weren’t by yourself.”

We fell silent again as question after question ran through my head and I wondered just how much my life was about to change. Maybe it was just a mistake in the tests they had done and I really didn’t have leukemia. What if it was true though? What if I had seen the best days of my life and there were nothing but downhill days ahead of me? What if I was never able to make another tour with Green Day again after we finished up this one? What if I only had a few months or weeks to live? What if I died without ever telling Billie Joe how I felt about him?

My eyes begin to water at that thought and the thought of never being able to tour with the guys again, but I didn’t want him to see me cry. He was staring down at the floor and I took the opportunity to quickly wipe my eyes, but I was still on the verge on crying.

“When we get back to the venue I’ll have someone call your mom and arrange a flight home for you tonight or tomorrow ---“

Billie’s words sparked a panic within me that I hadn’t felt coming. “What? No! Please don’t! Please don’t make me go home. We only have two stops left on this tour that I can tough out and then figure this out. I’ve gone this long without knowing, what’s another week? Please don’t let them make me go home. If I never get to do this anymore I at least want to enjoy the last few days of it while I can. Please don’t, Bill.”

He jumped up at my panicked outburst and was at my side within seconds, wrapping his arms firmly around me. He somehow managed to squeeze beside me onto the stretcher and pulled me against him very protectively and comfortingly.

“Calm down, Kenny. You didn’t let me finish. I was going to say if you wanted me to. I’m not going to make you do anything. I don’t want you gone any more than you want to be gone. Stop freaking out. You’ve had a rough day today. Just try to relax and we will go about this next week as if nothing happened and then go from there. It’s going to be okay though. If it is true and you do have leukemia, if there is anyone in this world that can beat it, it’s you. And me and the guys will have your back one hundred percent. This shit picked the wrong person to fuck with.”

I chuckled through my tears, thankful that he always had something to say or do to make me laugh. I was released a little bit later and we returned back to the venue and I decided to go ahead and break the possible bad news to Mike and Tre’ who had been waiting on us to get back all afternoon. They agreed to go about their business with me as if nothing had changed and just as quickly as I told them what was going on, it seemed to be forgotten. Billie, however, wouldn’t let me out of his site and wouldn’t even let me go back to sleeping on the bus with the other crew members. I stayed on his bus for the remainder of the tour, sleeping in his bed on the first night and then we swapped so that I was on the couch and he could get a good night’s rest. Life quickly returned to normal, but the week was short lived. 

I said goodbye to all of the guys in the airport as we got ready to head our separate ways home after getting back to California, promising to keep them updated with any and all news that I received. I could have sworn that I saw tears building in Billie’s eyes before we turned away from each other, but my own eyes were blurry as well so I wasn’t sure if it had just been me or not. The second I started walking away from my dysfunctional family though, an almost overwhelming feeling of dread set in that I couldn’t shake. I arrived home to my quiet apartment and started making phone calls to schedule doctor’s appointments.

**

A month had gone by since the tour ended and my life changed forever. The medical evidence didn’t lie and I indeed had an aggressive form of leukemia that we didn’t hesitate in beginning to treat. The treatments were beyond harsh and made me sicker than I had ever felt before, but Billie’s words that day in the emergency room continued to echo through my head and I continued to fight. The guys called and text all the time to check on me and sometimes they would even come visit while I was getting my treatments. Billie hadn’t lied when he said they would have my back and they were a large part of my motivation to fight. 

“How are you feeling today?” My mom asked as she let herself into my apartment, bags of food hanging from her arm. 

“Hey, mom. I actually feel decent today considering I had a treatment yesterday and usually feel like death. I just feel like I need to get out and move around some.”

“Maybe we can later. You feel like eating something? I brought burgers from your favorite place.”

“That actually sounds good. Hey, I was thinking of finally shaving my head today. I’m getting tired of pulling chunks of hair out. I figured I would go ahead and just get it over with and make better use of my beanie collection. Do you mind helping me with that later?”

She looked at me with sadness in her eyes but perked up some when she realized that I wasn’t really that upset about it. “Sure.”

We had just finished eating when there was a knock at the door and my mom got up to open it, revealing a very nicely dressed Billie. He had on a black button up dress shirt and his typical black skinny jeans and was holding what appeared to be a dozen roses.

“Hey handsome. You look sexy today.” I said. To him it was a harmless flirt, but to me, it was the truth.

“Thank you. I actually tried a little bit today. How are you feeling?”

“Actually pretty good today for a change. I ate a whole hamburger just now.”

“What? No way!” He said dramatically, making me laugh.

“So what’s got you all cleaned up today?”

“Well, um, these are for you by the way.” He said handing me the beautiful roses. And was that a hint of nervousness I heard in his voice? “I was wondering if you might would feel like going to prom with me tonight?”

I stared at him, confused. Where were we going to go to a prom at tonight? It wasn’t prom season and we weren’t exactly high school aged anymore. Not to mention I didn’t have a dress to wear, or any hair to go have styled. What was he playing at?

“Um, okay?”

 

“I know it sounds weird. It’s something that Mike and Tre’ came up with and their wives are going to be their dates and I didn’t want to go alone so I was hoping you might would be my date. If you don’t want to though, I would totally understand.”

The look on his face, thinking that I might turn him down would have been enough to make me go even if I was on my death bed right now. This meant I would have to go find a dress now which was my perfect reason to get out of the apartment for a little while. A huge smile spread across my face.

“Billie Joe Armstrong, I would love nothing more than to go to prom with you tonight.”

“Yeah?” He let out a sigh of relief. “I was beginning to worry there for a second.”

“So, is this one of those proms where there will be a hotel room afterwards?” I whispered as he leaned down to hug me, again just picking since he had no idea of my feelings for him.

“We will negotiate that later when your mom isn’t around. I’m sure that can be arranged, however, my bed is bigger and more comfortable.” He smirked as he pulled away.

I laughed his comment off and gave him a light playful push, but he had no idea the effect that his words had on me just now. I knew the reality of that happening was very slim, better yet, none.

“Alright, so I’ll pick you up tonight at six for dinner and then we will head to prom, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I resisted the urge the scream as he walked out of the front door and I ignored the cheesy grin my mom had on her face. I let her know that I was going upstairs to get a shower so we could go dress shopping because we literally only had about three hours for me to find something to wear. I hadn’t had much energy lately, but the burst of energy I was feeling right now was enough for me to take the stairs two at a time and bust through the door to my room where I found a…dress bag hanging on my closet door? That hadn’t been there when I woke up this morning. I had never seen it before.

“What’s this?” I asked as my mom appeared in my doorway behind me, a lot more calmly than I had run into the room seconds ago.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen it. I was just asked to keep this put up and sneak it in here somehow today.”

I unzipped the bag slowly, revealing the dress inside and my breath caught in my throat as my eyes filled with tears. Inside was my dream dress that I had shown Billie the picture of that day at the skate park when we had been talking. The dress that I had shown him was a fifteen-thousand dollar dress and this was the exact dress.

“Mom, wh-who paid for this? This is too much. I can’t wear this tonight. I can’t.”

She chuckled. “He said you would probably try to fight it, but he’s already pulled the tags off and he said he tried it on so he couldn’t send it back, but I think he was fibbing.”

I laughed at the thought of Billie and his random dress wearing sometime and my mother’s cluelessness to that. Sad thing was, I wouldn’t put it past him for a second.

“He thinks the world of you, Kinsley, so don’t give him shit about the dress being too much. Just wear it and be beautiful tonight and enjoy it. Now go get cleaned up so we can shave your head and you will need shoes and make up which he has set up for four-thirty.”

The rest of the afternoon flew by and before I knew it, I was dressed and waiting to be picked up, feeling like an absolute princess for the first time in my life. I normally would have never referred to myself as a princess, but I had no other word to describe how I felt tonight and if only for a few hours, I felt like Billie’s princess and he would be my prince. The doorbell rang at five minutes to six and my mom went to answer it as I nervously adjusted the beanie on my now bald head for the millionth time it felt like.

Seconds later, Billie Joe appeared in my living room again, this time dressed in a full black tux with a silver tie to match my dress and his typical black converse. I had halfway expected his choice of shoes tonight which is why I had chosen some sliver sparkly converse for myself, but never in a million years had I imagined he would look so damn amazing. Our reactions were the same, as we both paused for a second, taking in each other.

“Kinsley, you look absolutely beautiful.” He said, his voice shaky.

“So do you. And you wore my favorite beanie of yours. I’m going to steal that now y’know.” I said revealing my now bald head.

“That’s why I wore it. Swap with me.”

“Seriously?” I asked. I had begged and begged him for this beanie so many times before and he had never budged.

“Yeah.”

He pulled his beanie off and my breath caught in my throat again for the hundredth time today. This morning his head had been full of his trademark messy, thick, black hair, but now his head was just as bare as mine. I could hear my mom crying from somewhere behind us and tears had filled my eyes again.

“Your hair..” I choked out.

“Don’t cry. Your make up is too perfect. Let’s go get some food and have some fun, yeah?”

“Let’s go.”

I said bye to my mother and walked outside to the waiting suv limousine to which Billie held the door open for me. Mike and Tre and their wives were already inside and having a drink and they all cheered as we got inside. I immediately forgot that I was sick and fighting for my life.

“How are you feeling so far?” Billie asked as we danced later that night in the room that had been decorated as a Night in Paris, no doubt the idea of the wives.

“Perfect. Science would call that a lie with my condition, but it’s true. I haven’t felt this great in a long time. Dinner was amazing. I have eaten so much food today!”

Billie laughed. “Thank you for being my date tonight.”

“I owe you all of the thanks, Billie. This night has been awesome and I don’t want it to end. I have a question though.”

“Okay.”

“Did you really try on the dress so it couldn’t be sent back?”

My question earned another chuckle from him. “No, no I didn’t. I did pull the tags off though. Your mom helped me with a size and she was pretty spot on. I can try it on though if you want me to.”

“Hm..I might take you up on that.”

We continued to dance as a thought struck me that made me feel bad. I had my dream dress that I had told Billie about, but now we had to find him his dream girl so that he could get his night alone with her in the big room with a huge sound system, just him and her. I felt bad for him because that would be a lot harder to accomplish for him and I felt sad because that girl wasn’t me.

“Hey, what’s with the sad face? Are you okay? Do we need to sit down for a minute?”

“No, no. I’m fine. It’s just I was thinking. I have my dream dress which is the weird thing I told you about that day at the skate park, but now we have to find your dream girl so you can get your night alone dancing with her. That’s not exactly as easy as finding a dress.”

“You really still don’t get it, do you?”

“Um, I guess not…?” I trailed off, confused again.

“Kinsley, you are that dream girl. You have been that dream girl since not long after I first met you, I just didn’t think I would ever have a chance with someone as amazing as you. I’m hoping that you feel the same way, but if not, then I understand and this will simply just be a one time date tonight between us. No pressure if this is not something you ---“

He had started to talk complete nonsense so I decided to shut him up by pulling his face to mine and kissing him. He hesitated for a split second, shocked by what I had done, but he almost immediately begin to kiss back, sending me off into some alternate world of pleasure that I had no idea even existed.

“We both really need to work on growing our balls and learning to speak up.” I said after we had ended our first kiss.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“And that, my friends, is our cue to leave. We hope you two enjoy the rest of your night alone and just a little public service announcement from Mike, be safe.” Mike said, handing Billie a condom.

Billie’s face turned red and he fought to get his words out. “He’s just being a perv. We don’t have to do anything like that ---“

“Just one, Mike?? You mean to tell me you only go one round at a time?” I asked.

That earned laughs from everyone and Mike faked a look of embarrassment as he pulled two more out of his pocket and handed them to Billie.

“No! I was just trying to prevent having to stop at the store again, but since you two apparently need them more, have fun.”

The guys and their wives said goodnight and left and Billie finally had the weird thing that he had been wanting. My world felt like a fairy tale right now as we had the whole room to ourselves to just dance and talk and laugh about whatever we wanted. Time seemed to stop as everything was forgotten but the man standing in front of me. 

“Ah shit. It’s almost five am!” Billie said.

“No way! Seriously?”

“Yeah. I should probably let the dj guy go and get you home so you can rest.”

“Are you kidding me? I haven’t felt this awesome in forever and I’m not even tired. I could go for some breakfast though.”

“Yeah? How about we go back to my place then and get you out of that dress so you don’t get anything on it and then we can fix some breakfast together?”

“What happens after breakfast?”

“Well,” He said with that typical little sexy smirk. “Since you embarrassed Mike out of his last three condoms, I guess we should make his embarrassment worthwhile.”

I returned the smirk. “Now we’re talking.”

I sat down for a second as Billie went to pay the dj and tell him he could leave now. Billie had had a different glow in his eye when he picked me up last night, but since our feelings were out in the open now, that glow was a little brighter and I was loving it. He returned to the table where I was sitting and took my hand to pull me up, kissing the top of my head as I stood up. I couldn’t quit smiling as we got back in the limo and headed to his house. 

**

7 years later

“Ugh! I can’t do it, Mom!” Maddie said giving her skateboard a hard kick so that it crashed into Mike’s foot as he walked by.

“Whoa! Hey, no hostile nieces in the bus area today!” He joked as he handed her skateboard back to her. 

“Sorry, Uncle Mike.” She apologized as he went on about his business. 

“Maddie, just keep trying. It took me a long time to learn it too.” Sidney encouraged.

I smiled watching my twin six year old daughters work together on learning how to do skateboard tricks. Sidney picked up on things a lot quicker which frustrated Maddie, but when she slowed down and tried a little bit, she picked them up too. Sidney was always there to encourage her instead of rubbing it in when she picked things up quicker.

“Sidney’s right, Maddie. You did it earlier. Just don’t get frustrated, calm down and keep trying. I didn’t pick it up right off either. It takes time.” I told her as I got on my skateboard again and walked them through how to do a kick flip.

“So you guys ditched me for morning snuggles this morning to come out here and skateboard? No wonder I woke up freezing cold this morning.”

I turned around and saw Billie Joe sitting in a chair right outside the bus door. I had brought the girls outside this morning to let him sleep because he had been fighting off a stomach virus for the last two days. He looked like he felt a lot better this morning though and the girls knew it too. They were happy their daddy was awake now.

“Daddy!” They screamed and ran to jump in his lap.

“That was my fault. I wanted you to get some rest.” I said as I leaned down to kiss him.

“Yeah, I think I needed it, for sure. It would have been better with snuggles though.”

“Okay, okay. I get the picture. I’m a horrible wife and mom because I kept the girls out of the bed this morning.” I played along. 

“I’m just kidding, Kenny. Hey, uh, what’s a guy have to do to get his wife to possibly cook some lunch? I’m starving.”

“Seeing as how I’m happy to hear you say that since you haven’t eaten in two days, you don’t have to do anything. How about you go get your cuddles on the couch with the girls and I’ll fix something.”

“Yeah, Daddy, we’ve been waiting on you to get up so we can watch the new Transformers movie.” Sidney said.

“Transformers?! Hell yeah! Come on.”

I shook my head at him cussing to the girls which was a losing battle because he would let them slip a time or two around him every now and then. I didn’t mind it as long as they knew they were only allowed to say those things around us and no one else. The three of them piled up on the couch and started the movie while I fixed grilled cheeses for everyone and passed them out. I let them have their time together and I worked on cloroxing the bus again to try to kill any lingering germs from Billie being sick.

**

“You alright, baby? You look worried about something.” Billie said that night as he finished getting ready for the show.

“I’m nervous for them, Bill.”

He chuckled. “They aren’t even nervous, but you are?”

“I know that sounds horrible but yeah.”

“They will be fine. They know the song backwards and forwards and if they do tonight what they did during sound check, they are going to rock it. But if it makes you feel any better, I have a little bit of nervousness too, but I know they will be fine. After all, they are our kids.”

He smiled and kissed me before heading out to wait at the back of the stage for their show to start. I returned to the bus to make sure the girls were dressed and ready to go which they were. They were casually kicked back watching tv, strumming on their smaller electric guitars as if it was just another Saturday night being lazy. They grabbed their stuff at my instructions to do so and we headed back into the arena to wait for the moment they made their big debut to the world.

Maddie was all smiles watching her Dad and uncles perform while Sidney was strumming her guitar one last time before they went on. One of the crew guys was waiting to lead them out on the stage at Billie’s cue while I watched on, excited but nervous. Finally, Billie faked his guitar having a malfunction and called for another guitar which he was told was being restrung. This was the girls’ big moment.

“Well, it seems as if I don’t have a guitar at the second to keep playing, guys. So, uh, if it’s alright with you guys, I’m going to bring out two very special guests I have with me tonight to help me start off this next song and hopefully my techs can get me a guitar ready here. Please give it up for Maddie and Sidney!”

I watched as the girls walked out onto the stage and completely took over as if they did this on a nightly basis. I immediately relaxed and got into their performance as they moved around the stage interacting with their dad, Uncle Mike, Uncle Tre’ and the crowd, who was loving it. I could see Mike laughing as he knelt down and leaned back to back against Maddie while they played. Billie had a huge smile on his face the entire time, and even though the girls were only supposed to play part of the song before he took over again, ‘American Idiot’ was the girls’ favorite song and they played it through until the end.

“That was so awesome!” The girls screamed as they came down off of the stage, handing their guitars off to their own tech for the night.

“That was way better than awesome! You guys did such a great job! I’m so proud of you!” I said, wrapping them both in a hug. “Come on. Let’s go wait on Daddy to get finished.”

**

“How can one guy be so lucky?” Billie asked that night as we laid in bed with the girls between us, on the road to the next city.

I turned to see him looking at the girls with such a look of love and amazement and then he looked up at me and smiled.

“I think the only lucky ones here are me and the girls. I have an amazing husband who stuck with me and helped me fight and beat leukemia and I have two amazing little girls who make each day a different journey and they get to call you daddy.”

“We could lay here and go back and forth all night so I think we should just agree to disagree.”

“Agreed.”

We turned to face each other and I draped my arm over Maddie and he draped his arm over Sidney, our hands meeting in the middle and connecting. I knew neither one of us were going to sleep tonight being shoved to our respective edges of the bed, but it wasn’t often the girls slept with us like this and I knew these days were numbered so what was one night of bad sleep? We somehow managed to lean in enough to get a quick good night kiss and then we drifted off to sleep, calling it a night that neither of the four of us would ever forget.

**Author's Note:**

> Story title and inspiration based on the song 'Skin' by Rascal Flatts. This is my first time posting on here, so if you have a second, please let me know what you think!


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